Edible Landscaping Ideas at the 2011 San Francisco Garden Show

I was inspired by the copious use of edibles at the San Francisco Garden Show this year. In true garden show style, displays ranged from practical to completely outlandish.

The highlights for me were Johanna Silver’s gorgeous alternatives to raised beds in the Star Apple Edible Garden, and the combining of vertical gardening ideas with edible landscaping seen in a number of the displays. Come along for the virtual tour:

Just look at these little cabbages! Suddenly edibles seem more chic than annuals:

Some of the year-round ornamental plants used in the edible garden for interest:

I had a complete WTF? moment when I saw these lettuces at the show. Are we meant to do this at home? I’m just confused.

I’ll admit that I stood transfixed for about five minutes just staring at it, though. It’s rather otherworldly and soothing:

Love these walls planted with edibles. I want to try this in purple!

The wall idea was also used to define the space in this little yoga nook:

About Genevieve

Genevieve Schmidt is a landscape designer and owns a fine landscape maintenance company in Arcata, CA. The owner of North Coast Gardening, she is also a contributing editor at Garden Design Magazine and has written for numerous print and online publications.

Edibles are fun…but if you grow cabbage in an annual bed, and pick the cabbage it no longer looks so nice. I’m still a fan of keeping ornamental planting separate from the edibles you grow to actually eat.

Well, that’s an excellent point. I think a lot of ornamental/ edible gardeners are planting things a little on the tight side to reduce that issue. I like to mix it up, but I am definitely not getting rid of my raised beds either!

Is it just me, or did it seem as though there was a lot of emphasis on greens and herbs there? (just from looking at the photos, didn’t make it out from Oklahoma *g*) Were there any areas dedicated to edible flower displays?